the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > kill [verb (transitive)] > by crushing or treading (4)
transitive. To compress, crush, squeeze to death in a crowd. Also figurative. Obsolete.
transitive. With adverbial complement, as to tread down, under foot, in the mire, to the ground, to pieces, etc.; to tread to death, to kill by…
(transitive) to crush to death as a victim.
colloquial. To hit, to strike; to crush, to defeat. Also figurative. Cf. slash, v.1 2b.